Natural History. 437 



These solutions do not appear suited for the preservation of 

 vegetable substances, still less for that of mushrooms. 



In 1827, M. F. Leudersdorff * has recommended the use of fat 

 oils mixed with alum or cream of tartar. The alum should be pre- 

 viously separated by strong heat from its water of crystallization. 

 It then penetrates the plants almost as soon as the oil, absorbs all 

 their humidity, and preserves their colours entirely. It is only 

 necessary to steep the plant in this mixture, and then place it be- 

 tween some gray paper for twenty hours, that the oil may penetrate 

 it entirely ; afterwards lay it in some dry paper, and in a short time 

 it will be ready for the herbal. When travelling, the plants may 

 be left in a vessel full of oil ; the care of drying them being left till 

 you return. As for mushrooms, the author plunges them into 

 mutton suet exposed to a heat of from 42 to 45° R., after having 

 pierced the epidermis of the mushrooms in different points. The 

 suet penetrates into the substance of the mushroom, and what is 

 over is removed when cold ; in this way the mushroom retains not 

 only its form, but also its colours, &c. 



The chemical composition of mushrooms made me think, for a 

 long time, that an infusion of gall-nuts might be substituted with 

 advantage for pyroligneous acid, which is ordinarily employed to 

 preserve this species of cryptogamous plants. The pyroligneous 

 acid alters the colours, and the consistence of the mushroom. The 

 infusion of gall-nuts with a slight quantity of alcohol, it appeared to 

 me, should obviate these inconveniences, and experience has not 

 contradicted my conjecture. M. Petit, to whom I commuhicated 

 the fact, has thus preserved, during two months at least, and with- 

 out any alteration, the most perishable mushrooms. Far from be- 

 coming soft, these individuals had acquired in the liquor a greater 

 consistence, and they had perfectly retained their colours. The 

 vessel, however, was simply covered with a cork, and a consider- 

 able quantity of mould was upon the surface of the liquid. Care 

 should be taken that the mushroom be entirely immersed in the 

 solution. — Annates Ses Sciences d Observation. 



28. On the vegetating Wasp of Guadalovpe, by M. J. B. Ricord- 

 Madianna. — Botanists and entomologists know that particular pro- 

 ductions which have been recognised as cryptogamous plants, many 

 of which have been referred to the genus Sphaeria, are frequently 

 met with on dead insects, and are preserved in collections ; but it 

 has been thought that these plants developed themselves on insects 

 deprived of life. M. Ricord, however, states, that he has observed 

 at Guadaloupe a nest of wasps, the greatest number of which were 

 encumbered with these excrescences. As they quitted the nest, 

 they fell upon the ground, and could not rise again on account of 

 the weight of the plant, which had taken root on some part or 



* Das Austrocknen der Pflauzen, &c. 8vo. pp. 150. Berlin, 1827. 



